Telegram dropped a big time update today to both mobile and desktop platforms that you’ll want to grab right away. For mobile users, you are getting a really fun new background animation feature that adds a nice touch of customization in conversations, plus all platforms are getting new video call goodies.
Animations!
For those animations, Telegram is letting you fully customize or choose pre-made animated backgrounds of chats. These animations can have patterns or simply show off colors that Telegram offers. If you want to get really wild with it, you can pick and choose the color setups, add or remove colors, and then share those customized layouts with contacts in Telegram.
Once you’ve established your background, you can preview the animation from the editor, but then as you send messages, your background will constantly animate and change. It’s a really cool effect that Telegram claims is a first for a messaging app.
As an added animated bonus, you’ll start to see new animations when you add stickers or emoji, where the item “seamlessly” hops from the keyboard area into your chat. It’s not a huge feature, but certainly a nice touch of polish. Oh, there are new animated emoji too.
Group video calls!
I actually want to hesitate in calling Telegrams video chats “group video calls” because they don’t really work like a traditional video call. Instead, you have to open one of those awful voice chats that people have talked themselves into participating in and then turn on video. It’s very odd and seems like a step too far removed from an easy video call between multiple people. Either way…
In today’s update, Telegram is letting you easily turn on your video during voice chats to basically create video calls. You should see a video icon during voice chats to enable.
The update also lets you pin a video, share your screen in these video/voice chats, and enjoy improved noise suppression. For desktops and tablets, Telegram added an optimized side panel and split-screen view too.
The update is live right away on all platforms.
Google Play Link: Telegram